Don't Dis Your Gifts, Man!

What a week!  I have been gone for a solid 7 days.  First to Austin for a Coordinator's Meeting, and from there, straight to Lubbock, for our annual West Texas Parent Conference.  That is a huge project that has consumed a great deal of my time and energy over the past several months at work.  So, needless to say, I feel a sense of relief and accomplishment!

But, I'm also SPENT.  Ready to shut the thinker down, if you know what I mean.

So, you can imagine my (admittedly) ever-so-slight disappointment when I felt the Lord nudge me to go write.  Here's the gist of how it went:

God:  Time to write.

Me:  Now?!?  But, Lord, how will I possibly know what to write?  I am brain-dead.

God: You may be brain-dead, but your mind is alive.  And, you have the mind of Christ.

Me:  (strapping my brain with the litmus test to see if this is my imagination, or if it lines up with Scripture and brings forth fruit)

"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words....'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor 2:12-13, 16)

Me: Uhhhhhh, okie dokie, then.  Let's write.  Where do I begin?

God: Ephesians 6

Me: Really, God?  The Armor of God?  We can't be more original than that?

God: Just read.

Me: (read.  overanalyze. overanalyze. overanalyze)  I got nothin' unique, God.

God: Just write.

Me: (with immense reluctance) okie DOKIE, God, but I'm banking on the fact that I don't have to hit the publish button when I'm done.  Here we go!!

God: (I imagine) laughs (or cries) at my lack of faith

................................................

Okay, so here we are.  I'm not gonna lie.  I don't know what I am supposed to write about, but I am banking on the fact that the Lord brought me this far, and He isn't going to leave me hanging.  Either that...or I got a little wrapped up in my own knowledge of "good," rather than plugging into my Source of Life, and I will discard this whole thing at the end.

Here's what I do know.  I read Ephesians 6, because I felt like that was where the Lord was leading me.  But, it wasn't the stereotypical "Armor of God" part that kept jumping off of the page at me.  It was this:

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.  Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.  Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free." (Ephesians 6:5-8)

Even better.  The Lord sent me to a verse about slavery.  Like I have any clever life application of this in my modern day world. (Okay, well, I might, but at this rate, it feels nothing more than cheesy).

All I keep thinking about is the conference I worked this weekend. (At this point, I'm thinking I am about to go somewhere specific with this post...)

First, let me just say, I don't feel like I am the type of person who has that enviable "gift" of servitude.  I mean, I'm not proud of this, but I am not the first person to jump up and want to offer to make dinner for a friend in need.  When the dinner party is over, I'm not the first one you'll find in the kitchen washing the dishes.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  I'll do it, merely out of the socially acceptible principle of mutual reciprocity, but it's certainly not my natural tendency.  However, I do admit that I thoroughly admire those who do possess that level of natural servitude.  (...and now I'm pretty confident that God is about to take me in a different direction, entirely, with this post!!)

I thought the Lord wanted me to write about slavery and servitude, and working as for God, not as for man.  But, enter the living and active WORD of God, who has just opened the eyes of my heart to realize, He wants me to talk about gifts.  More specifically, about embracing our gifts, and not rejecting them, or envying others' gifts.

See, I don't have the gift of servitude, and I envy those who do.  I want that.  But, here's the awesome truth!  God has given me a gift of encouragement.  And, I would even venture to guess I have a gift of leadership (which, granted, often emerges in the form of a very Type A Personality, but that's beside the point).  How do I know I have these gifts?  Because people tell me all. the. time.  It isn't something that I boast in, and in fact, it isn't even anything that I realize I'm doing at the time.  But, when I listen to the urging of my heart, and speak and act from that place of obedience to what the Lord is pressing me toward, it touches people's lives.  Again, I'm not boasting, because I'm here to tell ya, that AIN'T me.  It's God inside of me.  So, who am I to boast??

But, if it is God inside of me, then doesn't the same hold true that ... well ... who am I to dis??

I don't have a gift of servitude.  I have a gift of encouragement.  Is that any less than a gift of servitude??  BY NO MEANS!  In fact, Scripture is very clear on the matter:

"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you...We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; ....if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." (Romans 12: 3, 6-8)

I think the part that says to think of ourselves with "sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you..." also means that we shouldn't dis our gifts.  In the same way we shouldn't think of ourselves more highly than we ought, we also shouldn't think of ourselves more lowly than we ought.  See, in comparing ourselves to others (and I'm certain I'm not the only one who does this, because I've spoken to too many Christians lately who play the "I'm not as 'awesome' as that Christian" reel in their heads all too often), we are, I believe, making agreements with the enemy whose only purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy.  If he can convince me that I'm not as good as Susie Q, then he takes back a little ground that I had rightfully claimed in confidence, when I stood with the full armor of God -- with the belt of truth buckled around my waist.  (Okay, so maybe this is a little bit about the Armor of God).  When we give credence to the enemy's attempt (because we know our struggle is not against flesh and blood, according to Eph 6:12) to knock down our confidence in the gifts bestowed by God HIMSELF, then we are crippled in our efforts to march forth and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The enemy will talk us down to think we're not good enough, because we can't do what we perceive that other Christian with the better gifts can do.  See, we are all many members of the same body, and God uses each and every member to make the whole.  Who am I to determine that God's purpose for me is less than His purpose for the next person?

I don't know if you've figured it out yet (I'm still learning), but God's kinda GOT IT TOGETHER.  He knows what He's doing.  He knows the plans he has for you! (Sound familiar?)  Walk in confidence of that truth, and allow the enemy no condemnation or foothold in your life by listening to his absurd word that your gifts aren't as good as Johnny's gifts!!  Embrace your gifts, and use them to the extent that they've been bestowed.

God loves you, and He made you uniquely you!  But, more importantly, He resides inside of you, and those gifts are His manifest power being displayed through you!! In that regard, I'd say your gifts are a delivery system for God to display His majesty!  How measley do they seem now?

If you want to know more about how to apply your gifts, dig into the word -- "take up your sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph 6:17).  God has given us the Scriptures to equip you for every good work!" (2 Tim 3:17)  Not just SOME good works.  Not just "this good work, but not that one because only Susie Q's gifts will help her do that good work."  No.  EVERY good work!  

EVERY. GOOD. WORK.

How incredible is that??!

So, don't dis your gifts, man!